Containers for cigarettes



May 12, 1964 D. W. MOLINS CONTAINERS FOR CIGARETTES Filed Jan. 25, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 12, 1964 D. w. MoLlNs 3,132,745

. CONTAINERS FOR CIGARETTES Filed Jan. 25, 1962 2 sheets-sheet 2 f k /7 p" ll/,f/Q 9 inventan J bcsmon walten Molar.;

31': wmvngco-eg/mdeawam QTVo n n j s United States Patent O 3,132,746 CGNTAINERS FR CIGARETTES Besmond Walter Molins, London, England, assigner t Moiins Machine Company Limited, Deptford, London, England, a British company Filed Ian. 25, 1962, Ser. No. 168,614 Ciainis priority, application Great Britain Feb. 14, 1961 4 Claims. (Cl. 211-134) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to containers for cigarettes.

Containers for collecting cigarettes are often known as traysf and the word tray will for convenience be used herein. A known form of cigarette tray consists of a base and two end walls, which latter may be slotted, the sides and top of the tray being open. Another form of tray has a base, two end walls, and one side wall, with one open side. This latter construction has been proposed for use with cigarette-collecting mechanism in which cigarettes are pushed axially, e.g. in a stack, into a tray through its open side. In all cases a cigarette tray is of an appropriate width to accommodate a stack of cigarettes whose width is the length of one cigarette, i.e. the sides of the stack being defined by opposite end faces of single cigarettes arranged parallel to each other and parallel to the inner `surfaces of the end walls of the tray.

The present invention is concerned with a cigarette tray of novel construction which can be used for collecting cigarettes in a system wherein the cigarettes are moved axially into the tray through an open side thereof.

According to the invention there is provided an opensided cigarette tray, having a base, two end walls, a top cover member fixed to the end walls and having downwardly depending extensions, fixed members extending across the tray and supported by the extensions, and a side wall slidably mounted on the xed members so as to be movable across the tray.

Further according to the invention, the tray may have a support element spaced from and above the base of the tray and extending from one end wall tothe other, Whereby a stack of cigarettes can be supported on the base and a further stack can be supported on the support element, and there may be provided two movable side walls, one located above the support element and the other located between the support element and the base. The said other movable side wall may be supported on fixed members (eg. rods) extending across the tray and secured to the said support element.

Cigarette trays in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of one tray,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional end view of the tray shown in FIGURE l,

FIGURE 3 is a side view of a further tray, and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional end view of the tray shown in FIGURE 3.

The tray has end walls 1 and a base 2', formed in one piece from channelled strip metal as best seen in FIG- URE 2.

Fixed to the end walls l at their upper ends is a top cover member 3 which is also of channel construction, with end extensions 4 projecting downwardly and fixed to the end walls 1, and side extensions 5 also extending downwardiy.

The extensions 5 are provided with holes 6 in which are xed the ends of two rods 7 which extend across the width of the tray.

These rods support a movable side wall 8 which has holes Sa near its upper edge through which the rods pass. The wall 8 is freely suspended from the rods 7 and can 3,132,746 Patented May 12, 1964 icc be slid along them from one side of the tray to the other, the lower edgejof the wall 8 being just clear of the base 2.

Abutments 9 are fixed to the end walls 1 at one side of the tray to act as stops for the movable wall 8. These are so positioned as to locate the wall 8 at a suitable position at the said one side of the tray, while permitting the side wall to be moved away from the stops towards the other side of the tray.

The tray so far described can be used to receive cigarettes, e.g. in the form of a stack, which are pushed or otherwise moved axially through the open side of the tray, i.e. from the left in FIGURE 2. If the Wall 8 is not initially in the position shown, it will be moved to that position by the stack of cigarettes being moved towards the right into the tray.

Subsequently the wall S can be used to push the cigarettes out of the tray towards the left, FIGURE 2. This may for example be done in order to transfer the cigarettes to the hopper of a packing machine.

The tray so far described is provided with a single base or support 2 for cigarettes. In an alternative construction shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, a further support ele-v ment 10 (constituting in eifect an additional base) is provided above the base 2. It is located approximately midway between the base 2 and the top cover member 3, and its construction is similar to that of the member 3, i.e. it has downwardly projecting extensions 11 at its ends, xed to the end walls 1, and further downwardly projecting extensions 12 at its sides, in which rods like the rods 7 are held so as to extend across the width of the tray directly beneath the element 10.

In this construction, instead of a single side wall 8, two separate side walls are provided, one supported on the rods 7 at the top of the tray and extending just short of and above the element 10, while the other, lower side wall is supported on the rods carried underneath the element 10, and extend between the element 10Vand the base 2. Further abutments like the abutments 9 are also provided in association with the upper side Wall, and these are preferably located just above the level of the support element 10.`

This tray can be used for the same purpose as that described above, but in this case the tray is positioned at dilferent levels in succession to receive successive batches or stacks of cigarettes on the base 2 and on the support element 10 respectively.

Such an arrangement enables a fairly large tray to receive two relatively small stacks of cigarettes in separate compartments. This provides advantages over an arrangement previously proposed in which one stack of cigarettes was pushed on to the top of a stack already in a tray, since in the present arrangement there is no risk of interference between the upper cigarettes of the lower stack and the bottom cigarettes of the top stack.

As in the rst construction described above, the movable side walls can be used to push the cigarettes out of the tray when desired.

Although only the base 2 and support element 10 are illustrated in the drawing, it is to be understood that further support elements can beV provided if desired, with a corresponding number of movable side walls.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An open-sided cigarette tray, having a base, two end walls, a top cover member fixed to the end walls and having downwardly depending extensions, xed members extending across the tray and supported by the said extensions, and a side wall slidably mounted on the said fixed members so as to be movable across the tray.

2. An open-sided cigarette tray having a base, two end walls, a support element spaced from and above the base of the tray and extending from one end wall to the other,

so that a stack of cigaretes can be supported on the base and a further stack can be supported on the support element, two side Walls one looated above the support element and the other located beween the support element and the base, and means on which the side Walls are mounted so as to be movable toward and away from the open side of the tray.

3. A tray as claimed n claim 2, comprising xed members, extending across the tray and secured to the said support element, on which the Isaid other side wall is slidably mounted.

4. A tray as claimed in claim 3, comprising a top cover member fixed to the end Walls, and xed members, secured to the said cover member and extending across the tray, on which the said one side wall is slidably mounted.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 45,648 Smith Dec, 27, 1864 300,432 Baden June 17, 1884 912,571 Holland Feb. 16, 1909 1,714,266 Johnson May 21, 1929 2,249,142 Kagel July 15, 1941 2,507,792 King May 16, 1950 2,572,090 Allen Oct. 23, 1951 

1. AN OPEN-SIDED CIGARETTE TRAY, HAVING A BASE, TWO END WALLS, A TOP COVER MEMBER FIXED TO THE END WALLS AND HAVING DOWNWARDLY DEPENDING EXTENSIONS, FIXED MEMBERS EXTENDING ACROSS THE TRAY AND SUPPORTED BY THE SAID EXTENSIONS, AND A SIDE WALL SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON THE SAID FIXED MEMBERS SO AS TO BE MOVABLE ACROSS THE TRAY. 